United Nations: The security situation across the Sahel is deteriorating rapidly, threatening peace and security in West Africa’s coastal States and beyond, delegates warned the Security Council today, condemning the deliberate targeting and exploitation of women and girls caught in the crossfire.
According to EMM, the Sahel is where the world’s gravest concerns converge – terrorism, coups, environmental collapse, poverty, hunger, dwindling development financing, shrinking humanitarian access, and a declining UN presence on the ground – said Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).
These crises land – specifically, violently and disproportionately – on the bodies and futures of women and girls. Noting that over 1 million girls in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso are out of school because of terrorist attacks or threats, she stressed: Abduction is not a by-product of terrorism in the Sahel, it is a tactic. In Burkina Faso alone, the number of women and girls abducted rose by over 218 per cent last year.
Turning to solutions, Bahous urged governments and regional bodies to ensure women’s full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation in transitional governments and peace and security efforts. Further, at least 15 per cent of violent extremism prevention funding should be invested in gender equality and to support the rapid deployment of women protection advisers to the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) to monitor sexual violence trends and engage with parties to conflict.
Levinia Addae-Mensah, Executive Director of West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, echoed the multi-layered insecurities confronting women in West Africa, underscoring that women are not just victims but exhibit tremendous capacity to foster change. Her organization’s work continues to reveal extraordinary resilience and leadership by women in building peace, particularly in the Sahel, where women’s social networks are on the frontlines of peacebuilding, mediating local conflicts, leading trauma healing initiatives, organizing humanitarian response, and operating early warning networks.
While frameworks and National Action Plans exist, their translation into sustainable transformation remains weak, she noted, adding that women’s participation is viewed as an add-on rather than a strategic imperative and, therefore, contributes to the chronic underfunding.
Offering a glimpse into the complex security landscape across the region, Leonardo Santos Simão, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNOWAS, presented the Secretary-General’s latest report on the Office’s activities. Citing terrorist activity in Mali, Benin, Togo, and Nigeria, he said it has surged in scale, complexity, and sophistication, including through the use of drones, alternative internet communication, and increasing collusion with transnational organized crime. He further cautioned that young people are increasingly becoming prime targets for recruitment by terrorist and violent extremist groups.
To counter these threats, he highlighted that the Alliance of Sahel States – Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – has established a joint defense force and common structures covering defense and security, diplomacy, and development. He also welcomed the Alliance’s establishment of a Criminal Court in Bamako to address war crimes, serious human rights violations, terrorism, and crimes against humanity – a step that underscores a commitment to justice and peace.
Growing insecurity compounds an already dire humanitarian situation, he emphasized, adding that 12.8 million people are projected to face acute food insecurity and 2.6 million children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2025. However, only 14 per cent of funding for the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for the Sahel region has been received, he said, urging resource mobilization to save the lives of millions of people at risk.
In the ensuing discussion, many delegates expressed concern about the horrific human rights situation of women and girls across the region – including abductions, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and rape. The violence must stop and women must urgently receive access to justice, protection mechanisms, life-saving services, healthcare, and psychosocial support, stated Denmark’s delegate.
At a time when the threat of terrorism and violent extremism continues to deepen and spill over into the Gulf of Guinea, Mauritania, and Senegal, the leadership of women and girls is more essential than ever, concurred Slovenia’s representative. She emphasized that sexual and gender-based violence is not incidental but systematic.